Morrison warns PNG on asylum seekers

Immigration minister Scott Morrison: “The only place the people there at the moment and I would think in to the future are going to be if they are found to be refugees is in Papua New Guinea.”
Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Australia and Papua New Guinea are at odds over the resettlement of refugees from Manus Island detention centre after Immigration Minister
Scott Morrison
declared they are likely to stay in Papua New Guinea.

“The only place the people there at the moment and I would think in to the future are going to be if they are found to be refugees is in Papua New Guinea,’’ Mr Morrison said on Monday.

Mr Morrison’s comments follow a visit by Prime Minister
Tony Abbott
to Papua New Guinea over the weekend at which Mr O’Neill agreed PNG would begin the resettlement of some refugees from the centre but other countries in the region had to share the burden.

Mr Abbott said he accepted “it might be hard’’ for PNG to take all whose claims were recognised but he said Australia was “continuing to work with other countries in the region to ensure people don’t come to Australia if they arrive illegally by boat’’.

But Mr Abbott was not able to name a single country which would resettle refugees from Manus Island.

“No one is coming back to Australia,’’ Mr Morrison declared on Radio 2GB on Monday.

“The agreement with Papua New Guinea is very clear on their undertakings to resettle people in Papua New Guinea and if there are other nations prepared to get involved then those opportunities will be pursued’’.

Offshore processing

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The former Labor government tried to entice a number of countries to either establish offshore processing centres or take more asylum seekers arriving by boat including East Timor, Malaysia and the Solomon Islands.

The proposed Malaysia people swap which would have involved Australia sending 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for taking an additional 4000 refugees from Kuala Lumpur was struck down by the High Court of Australia.

The Solomon Islands told Labor it simply did not have the resources to support an asylum seeker processing centre.

Beyond Papua New Guinea and Nauru only Cambodia has indicated publicly that it might be prepared to take asylum seekers arriving by boat from Australia following a request from Foreign Minister
Julie Bishop
.

But Cambodia has faced criticism over its human rights record and mistreatment of asylum seekers.

Mr Morrison has also come under fire over a decision by the Papua New Guinea government to close down a judicial inquiry into February’s Manus Island riots which resulted in the death of an asylum seeker and injuries for 62 others in February.

Fairfax Media reported on Sunday that Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister
Rimbin Pato
had sought the blessing of the Abbott government to hold up the progress of the inquiry by former human rights lawyer Justice
David Cannings
.

The inquiry had increasingly been putting conditions at the centre under scrutiny including a visit by the previously banned media.

Reports emerged asylum seekers had been served “worm infested bread’’ and toilet and shower blocks in filthy condition.

Justice Cannings has since commenced a second inquiry.

The President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
Gillian Triggs
also returned from a visit to Christmas Island as part of an Australian inquiry into immigration detention of children.

Professor Triggs said doctors had assessed the 315 children at Christmas Island as visibly distressed with their confinement leading to incidents of biting themselves and others, and banging their heads.

“Australia has obligations under international law to detain children only as a measure of last resort and to ensure children are protected from harm,’’ she said.

Mr Morrison told Question Time the government’s tough border protection policies were working as there had not been an asylum seeker boat for 95 days.

“During the same 95 days last year [under Labor] there were 55 boats and 3116 people who turned up,’’ he said.